DARS Vocational Rehabilitation Virginia: Services for Adults with Disabilities

What DARS Does for Adults with Disabilities

The Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services runs the state's vocational rehabilitation program — a federally funded service that helps people with disabilities prepare for, find, and maintain employment. For families navigating the transition from school to adult services, DARS is the primary agency connecting your adult child to the workforce.

Unlike the IEP system, which provides services as an educational entitlement, DARS operates on an eligibility-and-priority model. You apply, a counselor assesses whether you qualify, and together you develop an Individualized Plan for Employment that maps out specific employment goals and the services needed to reach them.

DARS eligibility requires three things: a documented physical or mental disability, the disability must create a barrier to employment, and the individual must require vocational rehabilitation services to prepare for, enter, or maintain employment. For most adults with developmental or intellectual disabilities transitioning from high school, meeting these criteria is straightforward.

Pre-Employment Transition Services

Pre-ETS is the bridge between school and DARS. Available to students with disabilities aged 14–21 who are enrolled in an educational program, Pre-ETS provides five core services:

• Job exploration counseling — career interest inventories, labor market information, workplace tours
• Work-based learning experiences — internships, job shadowing, on-the-job training in community settings
• Counseling on post-secondary education — information about college disability services, trade programs, certificate programs
• Workplace readiness training — social skills for employment, time management, workplace norms
• Self-advocacy instruction — how to request accommodations, communicate with supervisors, understand employment rights

The critical detail: Pre-ETS can start while your child is still in school, under their IEP. In fact, this is the ideal time to connect with DARS. The IEP transition team should include DARS as an invited agency at transition planning meetings starting at age 14. If your child's school hasn't made this referral by age 16, request it yourself.

Students receiving Pre-ETS who transition to adult DARS services maintain continuity with their counselor and employment goals. There's no gap in service — the Pre-ETS relationship evolves into a full vocational rehabilitation case.

What DARS Pays For

Once eligible, your DARS counselor develops an Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE) that identifies specific services to reach the employment goal. DARS can fund:

• Supported employment — job coaches who work alongside your adult child at the job site, gradually fading as competence builds
• On-the-job training — DARS reimburses the employer during a training period, reducing the employer's risk
• Assistive technology — devices or software needed to perform job tasks
• Transportation — assistance getting to and from work when public transit isn't accessible
• Post-secondary training — tuition assistance for community college, trade school, or certification programs related to the employment goal
• Job placement services — resume development, interview preparation, employer connections

DARS doesn't fund services indefinitely. The goal is competitive integrated employment — a real job, at or above minimum wage, in the community. Once your child achieves stable employment (typically 90 days of successful work), the case is closed. If the employment situation deteriorates later, the case can be reopened.

How DARS Interacts with SSI Work Incentives

One of the biggest fears families have is that employment will cost their adult child their SSI benefits. This is where DARS counselors and SSA's work incentive programs intersect.

The SSA provides several protections for SSI recipients who work:

The $65 earned income exclusion: The first $65 of monthly earnings doesn't count at all. After that, only half of remaining earnings reduce the SSI payment. An adult child earning $500 per month loses only ($500 – $65) ÷ 2 = $217.50 from their $994 maximum benefit, receiving $776.50 in SSI plus $500 in wages — $1,276.50 total monthly income.

Student Earned Income Exclusion (SEIE): Students under 22 who are regularly attending school can exclude up to $2,410 per month (up to $9,730 per year) in earned income from the SSI calculation entirely. If your child works part-time while finishing their education, this exclusion can protect both their earnings and their full SSI benefit.

PASS Plan: A Plan to Achieve Self-Support lets your child set aside income or resources toward a specific work goal — like saving for a vehicle to commute to work or paying for a training program — without that money counting against SSI limits.

Medicaid Works: Virginia's Medicaid Works program lets employed individuals with disabilities earn up to $75,000 per year while maintaining full Medicaid coverage. They must deposit earned income into a designated Work Incentive account, where they can accumulate up to $59,755 in savings excluded from Medicaid's resource limits.

A DARS vocational rehabilitation counselor should coordinate with a Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA) benefits counselor to model exactly how employment income will affect your child's SSI, Medicaid, and waiver eligibility before they start working. Don't let fear of losing benefits prevent employment exploration.

Connecting DARS to the Broader Transition

DARS is one piece of a four-agency puzzle. Vocational rehabilitation handles employment. SSI handles income support. Medicaid handles healthcare. The DD waivers through DBHDS handle long-term community support. Each operates independently, with its own application, eligibility rules, and caseworker.

The Virginia SSI at 18 & Adult Disability Benefits Guide maps all four systems into a single coordinated timeline, showing exactly when to file with each agency and how services from one program interact with eligibility for the others.

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